AT&T acquires DirecTV in $49B deal

DALLAS (AP) - AT&T says it is buying DirecTV for $95 per share, or $49 billion, a move that gives the telecommunications company a larger base of video subscribers and increases its ability to compete against Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which agreed to a merger in February.

Dallas-based AT&T's proposed combination could improve its Internet service by pushing its existing U-verse TV subscribers into video over satellite service, and thereby free up bandwidth on its telecommunications network.

AT&T currently offers a high-speed Internet plan in a bundle with DirecTV television service. The acquisition would help it further reap the benefits of that alliance.

DirecTV would continue to be based in El Segundo, California, following the merger.

The companies expect the deal to close within 12 months following a government review.

There are, but the Justice department has X amount of dollars budgeted that covers everything. Basically the US government in legal proceedings like this is always at minimum out gunned and with the amount of lobbying done by the telecom industry playing against a stacked deck.

AT&T was broken up many years ago because they were a monopoly, so now they are doing it again and now they are not considered a monopoly? What happened?? Did the government have a change of heart to let this happen again. This time with a television?

AT&T sucks. They have rotten service as I found when I lived a year in Texas and had no choice for my landline and internet. I had many problems and never once was I ever able to speak to a person here in the US who could speak plain english rather then the broken english their help desk people spoke because they were either in India or some other foreign country. Oh they had american names like "Joe and "Mary", but they were no way americans. As like many of the other big companies, they send all their support services over to other countries because they can get them for near to nothing rather then paying a qualified born and raised in the US American citizena fair wage for much better service. Yet they raise their prices for services.

One can only hope that the government flips the kill switch on this merger like they did with at&t/tmobile. Tmobile almost lost this customer if that merger had gone through. Let us have faith in our government and hope that they see the at&t monster once again trying to manipulate and monopolize our countries communications. At&t internet sucks and I can't get any other company where I live. I am calling the so called "tech support " 3-4 times a week to complain that I have to reset my modem at least that many times a week just to receive the experience of communicating to others. PLEASE dear government see the error of this merger and just say NO.!!!!!

that practice doesn't seem to work in the Telecommunications Industry.........smells like a TWC- Comcast deal to me....... smaller companies are needed in this industry........ . and fewer politicians in the execs back pockets......